Hotline After Dark -- Chronic Fatigue

Last night's TV was dominated by DHS Sec. Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling" that there be a terrorist attack this summer. Talk of Iraq also continued:

FNC's Garrett: "National Security Advisor Steven Hadley traveled to Capitol Hill today and appealed for Senate Republican unity. A short time later, the White House witnessed the single largest GOP revolt since the Iraq war began. ... Democrats fell just four votes shy of the just 60 needed to overcome a filibuster, as seven Republicans voted to end debate on a Democratic move to limit future Iraq troops deployment" ("Special Report," 7/11).

Congressional Quarterly's Crawford, on House Min. Leader John Boehner labeling GOP sens. who are calling for a change in course as "wimps": "The problem with people like Boehner and others, even a lot of the Republican presidential candidates, is that they are playing to the base of the Republican Party, who still support the president on the war in pretty high numbers. ... I guess they like preaching to the choir, they are just sort of blind to what the congregation thinks" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 7/11).

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), asked if he would back legislation to implement the ISG recommendations, even though the WH rejected most of them: "I would very much so, and now that I know more about them, I acknowledge that. ... I wouldn't join it if we had a fixed time, because it's too early to fix a time. And the perfection of this bill is that it's going to allow both Democrats and Republicans to join. ... When we choose the time, it will have a chance of getting the requisite votes to become law."

Asked if John McCain's statement that the U.S. "cannot let fatigue dictate our policies" was directed at him: "No. I don't know why he would be. ... Look, fatigue may very well mean that you're tired, but I have never said I'm tired of this war. When I said I'm tired of it, I'm tired of the fact that we don't seem to have any solutions. That instead of solutions, we seem to be getting worse and worse, and the fractionalization in the country is getting worse and worse, not better. So he might have been referring to me, but I doubt it" ("Situation Room," CNN, 7/11).

FIRE AWAY

Int'l Assn of Fire Fighters Pres. Harold Schaitberger appeared on "Hardball" last night to talk about the 13-minute video criticizing Rudy Giuliani for his handling of the 9/11 attacks.

Schaitberger, asked why the video attacks a GOPer before there is even a GOP nod: "It's not about a Republican candidate, it's about a candidate that is trying to build his candidacy on this legend of his
leadership on 9/11. He's trying to embrace our industry, our profession, firefighting. ... People on his behalf with the campaign are out around the country trying to sign up our members to become part of the campaign ... so he can use them in their photo ops, and so that he can add to this myth that he is a hero
of 9/11."

MSNBC's Matthews: "Do you believe you speak for all firefighters when you say you won't vote for Giuliani?"

Schaitberger: "We have got 281,000 members. And you know our union. Our union is politically diversified. It's a cross-section of this country. ... I'm not going to suggest that every member will agree with this. ... I will suggest this. Walk into any New York City firehouse and ask them about their position and their opinion of former Mayor Giuliani. I will live with that result. ... The fact is, we do speak for our members. And the fact is that our members are more than concerned about the treatment of those that were lost on that day" (MSNBC, 7/11).

And IAFF CoS Pete Gorman appeared on "Tucker":

MSNBC's Carlson: "I understand that the political arm of the union has produced this video. But you are using the name of the union, proporting to represent many firemen across the United States. Have you poled them? Are they in favor of this? Have you asked them thier permission before putting this on the internet?"

Gorman: "This is an education piece put out by the IAFF to educate our members of the problems. ... We did not poll 280,000 members. No. ... We have an executive board comprised of 16 members from the United States and Canada. And this was vetted at a very long process over a number of months. ... This is a political message to our members that we hope reaches every household in the United States" ("Tucker," MSNBC, 7/11).

WashingtonPost.com's Cillizza: "Anything that gets at tarnishing that reputation is potentially dangerous. And it's why we've seen the Giuliani campaign strike back very quickly. ... They are coming out and painting the IAFF as a partisan organization. It is a smart move. What they are trying to do is discredit the messenger. They are saying look, this is to be expected. This isn't a neutral organization that's representing the good of firefighters. This is an organization that has endorsed all the past Democratic candidates for president, in the past four of five elections, and is very likely to endorse a Democrat again" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 7/11).

IN REMEMBRANCE

Lady Bird Johnson, who passed away 7/11 in Austin, TX, at the age of 94, was also remembered:

Pres. historian Doris Kearns Goodwin: "There was no question that she played a central role in stabilizing Lyndon Johnson. ... She once said to me she knew she could have married someone who would have come home at 5:00 at night and given her a more calm existence, but Lyndon had shown her a world, and she never once regretted it. She was an incredible force. It's one of those times when, you know, you look at maybe the beautification of Washington, the public things she did. But must more important was her personal role in keeping him alive in a very good way" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 7/11).

Washington Examiner's Sammon: "She arguably changed history by talking her husband out of running for re-election in 1968 because of the Vietnam War. ... She softened some of the hard edges of her husband, and I think we didn't really appreciate her until maybe even after he was out of office" ("Special Report," FNC, 7/11).

CNN's Sesno: "It's important to remember, we talk about the war that we're experiencing today and the divisiveness, it's nothing compared to what it was then. We had people demonstrating in the streets. We had people saying we were in the middle of a revolution just about. And we had the civil rights disturbances at the same time. This was the Washington that the Johnsons inhabited" ("Situation Room," 7/11).

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME): "I am very, very sorry to hear that. She was a magnificent woman who served this country superbly and with love and affection. And it is a sad moment for our country" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 7/11) [KATHERINE LEHR].